Private Employment Hits a New High, but Government Hiring Lags Behind

U.S. businesses finally added enough jobs to replace the 8.8 million positions lost during the deep recession and tepid five-year recovery, as March hiring gains put the economy on firmer footing after a winter chill.

Nonfarm payrolls rose a seasonally adjusted 192,000 in March and figures for the prior two months were revised up by a combined 37,000, the Labor Department said on Friday. The unemployment rate held steady at...